diff --git a/test/initrd.py b/test/initrd.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cb37817c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/initrd.py
@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+import contextlib
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+
+def skipcpio(fd):
+    cpio_end = b"TRAILER!!!"
+    cpio_len = len(cpio_end)
+    pos = 0
+    while True:
+        os.lseek(fd, pos, os.SEEK_SET)
+        data = os.read(fd, 2*cpio_len)
+        if data == b'':
+            # end of file, cpio_end not found, cat it all
+            pos = 0
+            break
+        r = data.find(cpio_end)
+        if r != -1:
+            pos += r + cpio_len
+            break  # found the end!
+        pos += cpio_len
+    os.lseek(fd, pos, os.SEEK_SET)
+    if pos == 0:
+        return pos
+    # skip zeros
+    n = 2*cpio_len
+    while True:
+        data = os.read(fd, n)
+        if data == b'':
+            os.lseek(fd, pos, os.SEEK_SET)
+            return 0
+        for i, x in enumerate(data):
+            if x != 0:
+                pos += i
+                os.lseek(fd, pos, os.SEEK_SET)
+                return pos
+        pos += len(data)
+    return pos
+
+
+def read_header(fd, n=6):
+    pos = os.lseek(fd, 0, os.SEEK_CUR)
+    hdr = os.read(fd, n)
+    pos = os.lseek(fd, pos, os.SEEK_SET)
+    return hdr
+
+
+def is_kmod(f: str):
+    return f.endswith(".ko") or f.endswith(".ko.xz")
+
+
+class Initrd:
+    def __init__(self, path: str):
+        name = os.path.basename(path)
+        if name == "initrd":
+            # in the unlikely event that we actually have a fully compliant BLS entry
+            # a la /6a9857a393724b7a981ebb5b8495b9ea/3.8.0-2.fc19.x86_64/initrd
+            name = os.path.basename(os.path.dirname(path))
+        self.path = path
+        self.name = name
+
+        self.early_cpio = False
+        self.compression = None
+        self._cat = None
+
+        self._cache = {}
+        self.init()
+
+    def init(self):
+        with self.open() as image:
+            hdr = read_header(image)
+            if hdr.startswith(b'\x71\xc7') or hdr == b'070701':
+                cmd = f"cpio --extract --quiet --to-stdout -- 'early_cpio'"
+                data = self.run(cmd, image)
+                self.early_cpio = data == '1'
+
+            if self.early_cpio:
+                skipcpio(image)
+                hdr = read_header(image)
+            if hdr.startswith(b'\x1f\x8b'):
+                cat = "zcat --"
+                compression = "gzip"
+            elif hdr.startswith(b'BZh'):
+                cat = "bzcat --"
+                compression = "bz"
+            elif hdr.startswith(b'\x71\xc7') or hdr == b'070701':
+                cat = "cat --"
+                compression = "ascii"
+            elif hdr.startswith(b'\x02\x21'):
+                cat = "lz4 -d -c"
+                compression = "lz4"
+            elif hdr.startswith(b'\x89LZO\0'):
+                cat = "lzop -d -c"
+                compression = "lzop"
+            elif hdr.startswith(b'\x28\xB5\x2F\xFD'):
+                cat = "zstd -d -c"
+                compression = "zstd"
+            else:
+                cat = "xzcat --single-stream --"
+                compression = "xz"
+
+        self._cat = cat
+        self.compression = compression
+
+    def read_file_list(self):
+        cmd = f"{self._cat} | cpio -it --no-absolute-filename"
+        with self.open() as image:
+            data = self.run(cmd, image)
+            filelist = data.split('\n')
+            return filelist
+
+    def read_modules(self):
+        libdirs = ["lib64/dracut", "lib/dracut",
+                   "usr/lib64/dracut", "usr/lib/dracut"]
+        paths = [f"{d}/modules.txt" for d in libdirs]
+        cmd = f"{self._cat} | "
+        cmd += "cpio --extract --quiet --to-stdout -- "
+        cmd += " ".join(paths)
+
+        with self.open() as image:
+            data = self.run(cmd, image)
+        return data.split("\n")
+
+    def get_cached(self, name, fn):
+        if name not in self._cache:
+            self._cache[name] = fn()
+        return self._cache[name]
+
+    @property
+    def filelist(self):
+        return self.get_cached("filelist", self.read_file_list)
+
+    @property
+    def modules(self):
+        return self.get_cached("modules", self.read_modules)
+
+    @property
+    def kmods(self):
+        files = self.filelist
+        mods = sorted(os.path.basename(f) for f in files if is_kmod(f))
+        return mods
+
+    def as_dict(self):
+        return {
+            "early_cpio": self.early_cpio,
+            "compression": self.compression,
+            "kmods": self.kmods,
+            "modules": self.modules
+        }
+
+    @contextlib.contextmanager
+    def open(self, skip_cpio=True):
+        fd = -1
+        try:
+            fd = os.open(self.path, os.O_RDONLY)
+            if self.early_cpio and skip_cpio:
+                skipcpio(fd)
+            yield fd
+        finally:
+            if fd != -1:
+                os.close(fd)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def run(cmd, image):
+        argv = ["/bin/sh", "-c", cmd]
+        output = subprocess.check_output(argv,
+                                         encoding=None,
+                                         stdin=image,
+                                         stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL)
+        return output.strip().decode('utf-8')
+
+
+def read_initrd(path):
+    initrd = Initrd(path)
+    return {
+        initrd.name: initrd.as_dict()
+    }
+
+
+def main():
+    import json  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+
+    data = read_initrd(sys.argv[1])
+    json.dump(data, sys.stdout, indent=2)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()